With the Cleveland Cavaliers down 92-90 to the San Antonio Spurs and 9 seconds left on the clock, LeBron James had the ball on a coast-to-coast push to tie the game when he committed his fifth turnover of the night.
Afterwards he said, “I felt like I could get to the rim … to get a shot for myself or my teammates. Maybe I was thinking too much because I left the ball behind me.” Even the King is human, demonstrating one of the most common challenges that even the best athletes face: staying focused in the moment. If only by a few seconds, LeBron was getting ahead of himself, thinking of what he was going to do and not what he was doing. Basically he was splitting his focus between two things: the act of bringing the ball down court, and the goal of tying the game. Like the driver who is holding a conversation on his cell phone while driving through traffic, there is only so much focus to go around.
This is one of countless examples of the critical role of focus in athletic success. Professional athletes with whom I have spoken who made the transition from college sports have all said pretty much the same thing – “At this (professional) level you can’t afford to lose focus for a moment. In college you could always get back into things, but in the pros you lose your focus and your opponent is going to take advantage of it.” Champions do three things: (1) figure out what aspect of the task they are performing requires their focus, (2) direct their focus there, and (3) fend off all possible distractions. The fact is that at any level of sport, and certainly at the elite levels, athletes will find themselves constantly subject to distractions and having to make mental adjustments to get back on focus. (And really, we don’t so much “lose our focus” as allow our focus to shift to a secondary concern that has somehow gotten our attention.) So the best athletes are typically the ones with good re-focusing strategies.
Here is an instructive example of refocusing that anyone who does much driving at night will identify with. You’re driving down the road, or stopped at a light, and the lights of the car opposite you are too bright (either because he has his highway lights on or his lights are not properly calibrated - in either case the guy has pissed me off lol!). While keeping our gaze fixed ahead of us is the natural thing to do ... and while we are instinctively drawn to looking at the bright lights, doing so will be blinding. In such instances, the experts recommend shifting your focus to the white strip (or margin) on the passenger’s side of the road. This allows you to eliminate the distraction of the bright lights and properly attend to the task of driving safely. (Directing our focus to the bright headlights is an example of an involuntary focus - something that we do before we realize we are doing it. The “corrective” act of shifting our focus to the side of the road is a voluntary or strategic focus, and in this case a strategy intended to correct the involuntary act that preceded it.)
With nine seconds to go, the ordinarily highly-focused James got caught up in the demands and pressure of the moment, and his focus jumped from what he was doing to what he hoped to achieve. In another situation, LeBron might have gotten away with splitting his focus in this way, but not on this occasion. The bottom line is that focusing on what you are doing at the moment is usually the best mental course to take. Dr. Bob Rotella, one of the first sport psychologists to work with professional golfers, noted that players “don’t always stay in the present on every shot … but they strive to as much as possible. The good ones constantly monitor themselves (to catch themselves) when their mind starts to wander.” And don’t forget…. You can’t execute what you don’t practice! What are YOU doing to train YOUR focus muscles?
Afterwards he said, “I felt like I could get to the rim … to get a shot for myself or my teammates. Maybe I was thinking too much because I left the ball behind me.” Even the King is human, demonstrating one of the most common challenges that even the best athletes face: staying focused in the moment. If only by a few seconds, LeBron was getting ahead of himself, thinking of what he was going to do and not what he was doing. Basically he was splitting his focus between two things: the act of bringing the ball down court, and the goal of tying the game. Like the driver who is holding a conversation on his cell phone while driving through traffic, there is only so much focus to go around.
This is one of countless examples of the critical role of focus in athletic success. Professional athletes with whom I have spoken who made the transition from college sports have all said pretty much the same thing – “At this (professional) level you can’t afford to lose focus for a moment. In college you could always get back into things, but in the pros you lose your focus and your opponent is going to take advantage of it.” Champions do three things: (1) figure out what aspect of the task they are performing requires their focus, (2) direct their focus there, and (3) fend off all possible distractions. The fact is that at any level of sport, and certainly at the elite levels, athletes will find themselves constantly subject to distractions and having to make mental adjustments to get back on focus. (And really, we don’t so much “lose our focus” as allow our focus to shift to a secondary concern that has somehow gotten our attention.) So the best athletes are typically the ones with good re-focusing strategies.
Here is an instructive example of refocusing that anyone who does much driving at night will identify with. You’re driving down the road, or stopped at a light, and the lights of the car opposite you are too bright (either because he has his highway lights on or his lights are not properly calibrated - in either case the guy has pissed me off lol!). While keeping our gaze fixed ahead of us is the natural thing to do ... and while we are instinctively drawn to looking at the bright lights, doing so will be blinding. In such instances, the experts recommend shifting your focus to the white strip (or margin) on the passenger’s side of the road. This allows you to eliminate the distraction of the bright lights and properly attend to the task of driving safely. (Directing our focus to the bright headlights is an example of an involuntary focus - something that we do before we realize we are doing it. The “corrective” act of shifting our focus to the side of the road is a voluntary or strategic focus, and in this case a strategy intended to correct the involuntary act that preceded it.)
With nine seconds to go, the ordinarily highly-focused James got caught up in the demands and pressure of the moment, and his focus jumped from what he was doing to what he hoped to achieve. In another situation, LeBron might have gotten away with splitting his focus in this way, but not on this occasion. The bottom line is that focusing on what you are doing at the moment is usually the best mental course to take. Dr. Bob Rotella, one of the first sport psychologists to work with professional golfers, noted that players “don’t always stay in the present on every shot … but they strive to as much as possible. The good ones constantly monitor themselves (to catch themselves) when their mind starts to wander.” And don’t forget…. You can’t execute what you don’t practice! What are YOU doing to train YOUR focus muscles?
Modestly;i think that LEBRON's brain speed up his thinking for the final target ( scoring quickly) instead of organizing the two sequences : (1) driving faster (2) scoring.
ReplyDeleteIn high competition level ; the situations of strong pressure requires to fix the first variable ( ball handling) and focus on the second ( selecting the right decision : shooting or passing).
Exactly... the possibility that he was mentally getting ahead of himself resulting in poor performance of #1 (the ball handling) instead of staying in the proper rhythm. Far be it from me to second guess LeBron - that's for sure - but this certainly presents a situation that any player can try to learn from! Thanks for your insightful comment Coach!!
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